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Cypress vs Jasmine: What are the differences?
Cypress is a fast end-to-end testing framework, while Jasmine is a JavaScript BDD framework known for its readability in unit testing. Let's explore the key differences between the two:
Testing Framework: Cypress is a comprehensive end-to-end testing framework, whereas Jasmine is a behavior-driven development (BDD) testing framework. While Cypress focuses on full integration testing, Jasmine is mainly used for unit testing. This means that Cypress allows developers to test their applications from a user's perspective, interacting with the entire stack, while Jasmine is more suitable for testing individual units of code in isolation.
Language Support: Cypress is primarily used with JavaScript, as it is built on top of JavaScript and uses a JavaScript API for test automation. On the other hand, Jasmine supports multiple languages such as JavaScript, TypeScript, and CoffeeScript. This flexibility in language support allows developers using Jasmine to write tests in their preferred language.
Test Runner: Cypress comes with its own built-in test runner, which allows developers to execute tests directly in the browser. This provides real-time debugging and automatic reloading of the test runner whenever there are code changes. In contrast, Jasmine requires an external test runner, such as Karma or Protractor, to execute tests and provide additional functionalities.
Assertions and Matchers: Cypress offers a wide range of built-in assertions and matchers, which makes it easier for developers to write expressive and readable tests. It also provides automatic waiting for assertions, ensuring that the tests wait for the expected conditions to be met. In contrast, Jasmine has a simpler set of built-in matchers, which requires developers to write custom matchers for more complex assertions.
Test Syntax: Cypress uses a chainable and fluent syntax, allowing developers to chain together commands to interact with the application and perform assertions. This not only makes the tests more readable but also helps in reducing the complexity of the test code. On the other hand, Jasmine uses a more traditional and descriptive syntax, where each test is defined as a separate function with the help of keywords like
describeandit.Debugging Capabilities: Cypress provides excellent built-in debugging capabilities, allowing developers to pause and debug the test code directly in the browser. It also provides features like time-travel debugging, which allows developers to step back and forth through the application's state during test execution. In contrast, Jasmine has limited debugging capabilities and mainly relies on external tools or browser developer tools for debugging test code.
In summary, Cypress is a full-fledged end-to-end testing framework with a focus on integration testing, while Jasmine is a BDD testing framework primarily used for unit testing. Cypress supports JavaScript and provides a built-in test runner, extensive assertions, chainable syntax, and powerful debugging capabilities. Jasmine, on the other hand, supports multiple languages, requires an external test runner, has a simpler set of assertions, uses a descriptive syntax, and has limited debugging capabilities.
In the company I will be building test automation framework and my new company develops apps mainly using AngularJS/TypeScript. I was planning to build Protractor-Jasmine framework but a friend of mine told me about Cypress and heard that its users are very satisfied with it. I am trying to understand the capabilities of Cypress and as the final goal to differentiate these two tools. Can anyone advice me on this in a nutshell pls...
I've used both Protractor and Cypress extensively. Cypress is the easier and more reliable tool, whereas Protractor is the more powerful tool. Your choice of tool should depend on your specific testing needs. Here are some advantages and disadvantages of each tool:
Cypress advantages:
Faster
More reliable (tends to throw fewer intermittent false failures)
Easier to read code (handles promises gracefully)
Cypress disadvantages:
Cannot switch between browser tabs
Cannot switch to iFrames
Cannot specify clicks or keypresses explicitly as if a real user was interacting
Cannot move the mouse to specific co-ordinates
Sometimes has trouble switching between different top-level domains, so not good for testing external links
Cypress is a newer tool with less extensive documentation and less community support
Protractor advantages:
More powerful because it is Selenium-based - it can switch between tabs, it can handle external links to other domains, it can handle iFrames, simulate keypresses and clicks, and move the mouse to specific co-ordinates within the browser.
More extensive community support and documentation
Protractor disadvantages:
Slower and more brittle - in general there is a higher likelihood of cryptic and/or intermittent errors which may cause your tests to fail even though there is nothing wrong with your application
For highly experienced automation engineers, the fundamental "brittle" nature of Selenium can be worked around - it can be reliable but only if you really know what you are doing
Less graceful handling of promises - relies on async/await or .then to manage the order of execution. Therefore it is a bit harder to read the code.
Harder to set up, and the method of setup impacts its reliability. For example, a hub/node configuration where the selenium jar is on a different physical machine than the browser under test will cause unreliability in your tests. Not everyone knows about this type of thing, so it's common to find Selenium frameworks that are set up poorly.
It's probably better to use Cypress if
you're at a smaller company and have a close relationship with developers who can help write hooks or stubs in their code to assist your testing
you don't need to do things like switch between tabs or test links to external top-level domains
It's probably better to use Protractor if
You might need to switch between tabs or test external links to other domains within the scope of your framework
You want to use a more accurate simulation of how a real user interacts with a browser (i.e. click at this location, type these keys)
You're at a company where you won't have any support from developers in writing hooks or stubs to make their code more testable in a less powerful framework like Cypress
Please try Handow, the e2e tool basing on Puppeteer.
Gherkin syntax compatible
Chrome/Chromium orentied, driven by Puppeteer engine
Complete JavaScript programming
Create test suites rapidly without coding (or a little bit), basing on built-in steps library
Schedule test with plans and arrange stories with sequential stages
Fast running, execute story groups in parallel by multi-workers
Built-in single page report render
Cover page view, REST API and cookies test
As we all know testing is an important part of any application. To assist with our testing we are going to use both Cypress and Jest. We feel these tools complement each other and will help us get good coverage of our code. We will use Cypress for our end to end testing as we've found it quite user friendly. Jest will be used for our unit tests because we've seen how many larger companies use it with great success.
We use Mocha for our FDA verification testing. It's integrated into Meteor, our upstream web application framework. We like how battle tested it is, its' syntax, its' options of reporters, and countless other features. Most everybody can agree on mocha, and that gets us half-way through our FDA verification and validation (V&V) testing strategy.
Pros of Cypress
- Open source29
- Great documentation22
- Simple usage20
- Fast18
- Cross Browser testing10
- Easy us with CI9
- Npm install cypress only5
- Good for beginner automation engineers2
Pros of Jasmine
- Can also be used for tdd64
- Open source49
- Originally from RSpec18
- Great community15
- No dependencies, not even DOM14
- Easy to setup10
- Simple8
- Created by Pivotal-Labs3
- Works with KarmaJs2
- Jasmine is faster than selenium in angular application1
- SpyOn to fake calls1
- Async and promises are easy calls with "done"1
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Cons of Cypress
- Cypress is weak at cross-browser testing21
- Switch tabs : Cypress can'nt support14
- No iFrame support12
- No page object support9
- No multiple domain support9
- No file upload support8
- No support for multiple tab control8
- No xPath support8
- No support for Safari7
- Cypress doesn't support native app7
- Re-run failed tests retries not supported yet7
- No support for multiple browser control7
- $20/user/thread for reports5
- Adobe4
- Using a non-standard automation protocol4
- Not freeware4
- No 'WD wire protocol' support3
Cons of Jasmine
- Unfriendly error logs2
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